Portable lock



1969 R. l. N. WEINGART 3,42

PORTABLE LOCK Filed June 275, 1967 FIG. 1

INVENTOR. RICHARD I. N. WEINGART JOHN P. CHANDLER HIS ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A portable lock having a bar with a hook at one end for insertion between a door and frame, and a locking nut movable on the bar into engagement with the door and frame, and means for securing the nut against reverse movement.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my three earlier applications Ser. Nos. 552,553, 615,651 and 645,778, having filing dates of May 24, 1966, Feb. 13, 1967 and June 13, 1967, respectively.

The invention relates to portable locks primarily for travel purposes, for closets, desk and dresser drawers in hotel rooms, and for a variety of other purposes and which employs a simple padlock or other equivalent device as the locking element.

The lock includes a flat elongated locking bar with a hook-like abutment at its inner end which is received in an opening in a door strike plate and the bar passes out between a fixed frame and the movable element such as a drawer or door. The bar further has opposed teeth along its longitudinal edges which can be engaged by threads of a nut-like locking member which is screwed onto the locking bar, the opposed teeth serving as male threads.

The nut can be moved as by rotation until it contacts the surface of the door and adjoining frame. In order to reduce the time required for turning the nut until it contacts door and frame, the nut has one or two internal slots to receive the locking bar in sliding relation so that the nut can be slid until it contacts the door and the frame, preventing opening thereof. Upon reaching this position, the nut is turned 90 and novel means are employed to prevent further rotation.

The nut is formed with a slide-wall notch or slot in which opposed walls thereof are connected by a pin, thus leaving a channel between the pin and one fiat side of the locking bar. The shackle of a padlock passing through the channel prevents the fiat locking bar from being displaced from this 90 position. Alternatively, a centrally pivoted lever can accomplish the same result.

The result is a simple and inexpensive lock which cannot get out of order and which can be used for a variety of purposes including acting as a supplemental lock for an apartment house door, in place of the not-too-satisfactory chain lock.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a section taken through a hinged door and frame and showing the improved lock of the present invention in locked position thereon;

FIG. 2 is a section taken in line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section taken through the locking bar and showing the locking nut in elevation;

FIG. 4 is a broken perspective view of the locking bar;

FIG. 5 is a perspective bar of the locking nut;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a modification;

FIG. 7 is a side elevation of the locking nut shown in FIG. 6.

The lock of the present invention includes a fiat locking bar 10 having serrations or teeth 11 and 12 along opposed 'ice edges and having a laterally extending hook-like abutment 14 at its inner end which is received in an opening 19 in a strike plate 20 in a fixed door frame 21. A door 18 is hinged so as to move from closed position towards the lower edge of the drawing when it is opened. The door frame has an opening 22 which is generally aligned with opening 19 and normally receives a spring pressed latch bolt extending from a lock (not shown) in door 18 and shown in broken lines because the bolt must remain in retracted position when the locking bar is in the position of FIG. 1. There is normally a slight space or clearance shown at 23 between a hinged door and the door frame which is sufficient to receive the thin locking bar.

The abutment 14 is first positioned in opening 22 in the frame, after which the door is closed. A stop plate 24 having an opening of suitable size to receive the locking bar in slidable but relatively snug-fit relation is placed thereon and it overlies a portion of the door as well. The locking nut 26 is now applied to the locking bar and is moved rearwardly until it is in contact with the stop plate. The stop plate can be eliminated since the locking nut performs the function of preventing opening of the door when the parts are in the locked relation of FIG. 1. The plate, however, prevents the rotation of the nut from causing a marred surface. It also covers a larger section of the door and thus increases the safety factor.

The locking nut may have a non-circular outer surface 27 or it may simply be a knurled round surface. It also has a through axial bore 28 which is threaded as shown at 29, the threads having the same lead as the serrations or teeth 11 and 12 on the locking bar. In other words, the teeth 11 along one edge of the locking bar are not set exactly opposite the teeth 12 along the other edge but they have a lead comparable to an externally threaded cylinder of the same diameter as the width of the locking bar and wherein the threads thereof have the same lead as the threads 29.

While the locking nut could be applied at the outer end of the locking bar and turned until it reaches the locking plate, this extensive rotation is not necessary, since the threaded bore in the locking nut has a shallow, square longitudinal slot 30 formed therein as by milling. When the nut is applied to the locking bar and the nut offset radially with one edge of the locking bar in the slot, the locking nut may be easily slid forwardly until it strikes stop plate 24 or the frame and door, if the plate is omitted, after which the nut is turned thus effecting a firm locking action. To accomplish this turning, the nut is displaced upwardly, when the parts are in the position of FIG. 3, to center it relative to the axis of the threads on the locking bar.

Thus, the slot which has heretofore received one edge of the locking bar, and has prevented rotation of the nut, no longer prevents such rotation. On the side of the nut opposite slot 30, there is a notch 32 milled in from its outer periphery and a fixed pin 34 passes through a pair of aligned holes 36 at a point equidistant between the opposed ends 39 of said slot. When the nut is in this position, 90 from its position during sliding movement, there is a space between pin 34 and the flat face of the locking bar. This forms a channel 37 as shown in FIG. 2, defined on one side by pin 34 and on the other by the ends 39 of the milled notch 32 and the flat face of bar 10.

Reverse rotation of the locking nut is prevented by inserting the shackle 40 of a small padlock 41 under pin 34 and through this channel.

In the modified arrangement of FIGS. 6 and 7, the nut 44 is round with a knurled outer surface 45 and has the same threaded bore 46 but in this instance the bore has two opposed longitudinal slots 48 and 49 which receive the locking bar 50 in free sliding relation. Since there are two of these slots each one can be of lesser depth than slot 30 of FIG. 5. In actual practice, the slots need extend only to the roots of the thread.

The radial or side wall slot 52 is of lesser width than the slot shown at 32 in FIG. and pin 54 serves as a pivot for a curved locking lever 56 of the shape shown and having a thickness slightly less than the width of slot 52. When the lever is rotated to its maximum clockwise position of FIG. 6, the inner end 57 contacts locking bar 50 and prevents rotation of the latter. The outer end 58 has an opening 59 to receive the padlock shackle which engages the side of the nut and prevents reverse rotation. When the padlock is removed, the lever is free to rotate and its inner end can move away from contact with locking bar 50.

While there have been described herein what are at present considered preferred embodiments of the invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many modifications and changes may be made therein without departing from the essence of the invention. It is therefore to be understood that the exemplary embodiments are illustrative and not restrictive of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims, and that all modifications that come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are intended to be included therein.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A portable auxiliary locking device for doors, drawers and the like which are mounted in frames and including a relatively long, thin locking bar with teeth along opposed longitudinal edges forming thread elements and provided with a laterally offset portion forming an anchor to be received in an opening in one of said members to be locked relative to the other, a nut having a threaded bore to be screwed onto the locking bar until it engages the door and frame and a longitudinal slot in the bore for receiving one edge of the locking bar to per- -mit the nut to freely slide along the bar until it contacts the door and frame, after which it is secured against movement along the locking bar by disengaging the nut from the slot and turning it a partial revolution to form an interlock with the threads, the nut having a side wall slot and a pin passing through the slot forming a closed channel, and locking means secured within the channel and in contact with the locking bar for preventing rotation of the nut and forward movement of the nut on the locking bar.

2. The locking device of claim 1 wherein the locking means is an abutment held against movement in the channel which serves as a stop, limiting rotation of the nut on the locking bar.

3. The locking device of claim 1 wherein the bore in the nut has a second slot positioned diametrically opposite the first slot, to permit the locking bar to freely slide through both slots.

4. The locking device of claim 1 wherein the locking means is the shackle of a padlock which passes through said channel, engaging the locking bar and preventing rotation thereof.

5. The locking device of claim 1 wherein the locking means is a lever centrally pivoted on said pin, its inner end, in one position, engaging the locking bar, preventing rotation thereof, while its outer end, which has an aperture therein, extends outside the periphery of the nut, and a locking means in the aperture prevents reverse rotation thereof.

6. The locking device of claim 5 wherein the latter locking means is a padlock.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 866,548 9/1907 Wilkinson 292-292 894,554 7/ 1908 Weber 292-291 1,168,107 1/1916 Oldham -14 2,720,102 10/ 1955 Spain 70--14 MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner. E. I. MCCARTHY, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 292291 

